Horrors of war make way for life in America

>> HOWARD AND PATRICIA FLOOD

Dec. 3, 2011

Howard and Patricia Flood, shown after World War II in 1948. / Photo Courtesy of Valerie Reece

Reece

About Howard and Patricia Flood

» Background: On the day after the Pearl Harbor raid, Japan attacked Singapore as part of the launch of a larger campaign against British and American interests across the Pacific and Indian oceans. Patricia Funk Flood (1924-2007), a native of British North Borneo, was a student in Singapore when war broke out. Howard Flood (1920-2003) of Hootentown was serving in the Army Air Force in Bombay, India. Patricia Flood fled to Bombay, where she worked as an interpreter at the PX for refugees. She met Howard Flood there, and they later married. » Service: Howard Flood served in the Army Air Force, 1938-1946.» Postwar: The Floods settled in Springfield and raised three children, one of whom, Larry, died in 2001. Howard Flood worked as an accountant for Holsum Bread, Hoffman Taft and Syntex Corp.

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Valerie Reece, who lives in Jefferson City, said her mother boarded a ship to flee Singapore as Japanese forces were invading. The ship zigzagged through the water to avoid Japanese submarines.

"She actually saw another ship torpedoed that was full of women and children. They cried for the captain to stop and help those people, but he dared not stop or be torpedoed themselves," Reece, 60, wrote in a message to the News-Leader.

In British North Borneo, Patricia Flood's four brothers became war heroes for their resistance to the Japanese occupiers who killed and enslaved the ethnic Chinese residents. The Japanese beheaded one of the brothers, Reece wrote.

After the war, Patricia Flood had to make some adjustments to American life. Coming from an affluent family with servants, she had to learn to cook and to drive, Reece said in an interview.

"She became very Americanized," Reece said. "She was very proud to be an American."

Reece and her brother agreed that their parents lived life to the fullest. The Floods and their friends formed a club for the purpose of throwing house parties on a regular basis.

"When I was a teen-ager, sometimes I would stay home when they were having a party because it was so much fun to watch my parents having a good time," Randy Flood, 55, said.

The interracial marriage created a distinctive family presence. "My brother was real dark, my sister was real light, and I was in between," Randy Flood said. As a result, he said he encountered conflict in his formative years. Some people mistook him for an American Indian; others contemptuously labeled him Japanese. He said he felt comfortable playing Boys Club basketball with all black teammates, who called him white. He has worked for electronics companies in the Springfield area and is currently unemployed.

Randy Flood said his mother was a strong force in the family.

"It takes a lot of self-confidence to leave your country and move to a different country," he said. "That's why our country's so strong, because only the best come here. ... They're the tough ones."